Golden Eagles take the No. 1 seed to Jackson for OVC Championship Tournament

May 26, 2010

Schedule altered so Tech's starting time
delayed

Editor's note: A malfunction of the stadium
lights on Wednesday caused the cancellation of the first-round game
between Murray State and Eastern Kentucky. That game will be played
Thursday at 9 a.m., moving the entire schedule Thursday back.
Tech's game, originally scheduled for a 7 p.m. start, will begin
later -- perhaps 8 p.m. if things run smoothly in the first three
games of the day. Please check TTUsports.com for updates.

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Better late than never is a phrase that
truly epitomizes the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles baseball team as
the post-season commences. This week, they're headed to Jackson,
Tennessee to compete as the No. 1 seed in the Ohio Valley
Conference Championship tournament.

Headed into the tournament, the Golden Eagles hold a four game
win streak, one game shy of tying their season high five-game
streak. Watching Tech over the past few weeks, one would be
hard-pressed to doubt their talent and potential going into the
post-season. However, their regular season very obviously developed
through game-by-game improvements and adjustments that allowed for
a late season rally to the top spot.

Tech didn't compete in its first OVC contest until April
2nd against Jacksonville State, at which point their
overall record was 11-14. On April 6th, Tech head coach
Matt Bragga earned his 150th career win a road victory over
Lipscomb. The next day, the Golden Eagles finished the sweep of the
Bisons for the first of six brooms this season, but faltered in
conference contests.

The Golden Eagles went 0-5 in their first five conference
match-ups, shouldering a sweep at Jacksonville and a doubleheader
sweep by Southeast Missouri on the road within the first two weeks
of April.

The double-dip sweep at SEMO seemed to be the turnaround for
Tech though. The following day, the lineup put up 12 runs to SEMO's
eight, snapping their five-game in-conference losing streak.

And they never looked back.

The series finale win in Cape Girardeau launched an eleven game
in-conference string of wins for the Golden Eagles as they went on
to brush Eastern Illinois, Morehead State and Austin Peay under the
rug, tacking on a double-header sweep over UT-Martin for good
measure to bring their record to 25-22 overall and 11-5 in the OVC.

Over the course of the season, the Golden Eagles have developed
a lineup comprised of nine players batting over .300 with a team
average of .329, ranking third in the OVC. They lead the conference
with an on-base percentage of .421, in total plate appearances with
2209 and in walks with 245. Additionally, they hold the OVC's no. 2
spot in doubles with 120 and total hits with 602.

Golden Eagle center fielder Chad Oberacker
boasts an outstanding .455 batting average to lead Tech and the
OVC. He has 33 multi-hit games this season and has become only the
fourth player in Tech history to bring in over 60 RBI in a single
season. Oberacker also leads the OVC in hits (101) and doubles and
ranks third with an OBP of .527.

When he bats cleanup for the Golden Eagles, they have a record
of 18-6. His longest hitting streak of the season reached 14 games,
and he has only gone hitless in two of 52 games played in 2010.

Tech's patience and persistence at the plate has increased, as
they took six wins this season with their last at-bats of the game.
They have outscored opponents in the fifth inning by a 60-43
margin, 58-45 in the sixth and 47-25 seventh inning. By the time
the Golden Eagles finish the eighth inning, they can nearly
guarantee a victory, taking the W in 20 of 22 games in which they
lead after the eighth.

In the last ten games that Tech has put up double digits in the
run column, they've been undefeated, and maintain a record of 17-2
over the course of the season when scoring in double figures.

En route to double figures Tech will generally clock a few
four-baggers, and boast an 11-1 record in games when they hit two
or more longballs. Junior A.J. Kirby-Jones is
ranked fourth in the NCAA in home runs with 24 this season, 49 in
his career.

He also holds top honors for career RBI's (185) and intentional
walks (17) while ranking second in Tech's career record books with
a slugging percentage of .664 and walks with 125. Kirby-Jones holds
the no. 3 spot in doubles with 46 in his career.

In 2010, both Kirby-Jones and Oberacker have reached base safely
in 48 of Tech's 52 games. Kirby-Jones contributed 71 hits –
40 of which were for extra bases – and walked 55 times and
been hit by pitch eight times. Oberacker has never dropped below a
.388 in the box, and has batted as high as .460. Both players have
been named first team all-OVC and are 2010 All-America candidates.

Junior Casanova
Donaldson has combined with teammates Kirby-Jones and Oberacker
to post 46 multi-RBI games in 2010, and has raised his batting
average over the past two months by 46 points to a .337.

Another late-season rally by Ben Burgess has fueled
the Golden Eagles toward their post-season goals. Burgess has hit
.316 in the past 32 games, lifting his average from .175 on March
21 to .266 currently. He has hit two home runs in each of the two
last games.

Putting up stats like these makes it easy to believe that the
Golden Eagles have yet to be shut-out this season, scoring at least
one run in all 52 games so far, and blanking four opponents along
the way.

While their offense is undoubtedly impressive, the Golden Eagle
defense provides the backbone for the team. Overall, Tech leads the
OVC in fielding with a percentage of .966. When the pitching staff
holds opposing batters to five runs or less they hold a record of
19-1, a statistic that improves to 10-0 when adversaries score two
runs or less.

OVC Pitcher of the Year Lee Henry leads the
Golden Eagles with a low ERA of 2.47, and is tied in second place
for the winningest two-year pitcher in Tech history with 15 wins.
He pitched three complete games in 2010 and is 5-0 in his last five
games. During those games, he pitched 32 2/3 innings and fanned 36
batters.

Senior starter Adam Liberatore
leads Tech with 12 starts and maintains a 6-4 record in 2010. He
has struck out at least five batters in eight of his starts and
recorded a season-best 12 strikeouts in a complete-game, 4-0
shutout over EIU.

Junior Chason
Choate has come on strong toward the end of the season as well,
and recently made the best of only his third start of the season to
pitch seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks in a
crucial series finale against Murray State. His efforts on that day
earned him OVC honors as Pitcher of the Week. In his last eight
appearances, the southpaw is 2-1 with two saves and a 2.37 ERA.

Reliever Stephen Pryor has
come out of the bullpen to earn four saves this season. In 37
innings pitched this season, he's struck out 69 batters and logged
a 4-2 record. Most impressively, Pryor has not allowed a home run
by an Ohio Valley Conference opponent in 2010.

Freshmen Austin
Wulf and Zephan Guyear have
put up monumental numbers for the Golden Eagles this season as
well. Guyear stepped in to play third base for an injured Devin Rivers and
batted .325 with six doubles, a triple and three home runs. He has
yet to bat below .300 this season, and Tech enjoyed a 6-1 record
with Guyear at third. Rivers, since returning, has batted .390.

Wulf heads into the Championship Tournament as Tech's hottest
hitter, running with a seven-game hitting streak. In these seven
games, he's logged multiple hits in each and is batting .459 with
15 RBI. Close behind is shortstop Chad Hayes, who has
batted .444 since April 25 and has been on base safely in 14 of his
last 15 games. He has also been error free in 24 of the past 25
games, and is currently running with a 14-game error-free streak.

Recently named 2010 OVC Coach of the Year, Bragga will lead his
Golden Eagles into the tournament with a 14-6 OVC record (29-23
overall). Having earned a first-round BYE, they will play Thursday
evening at 7:00pm at Pringle's Park in Jackson. Fans who cannot
make it to Jackson can follow the live stats here.